by Nuria Chantre

A local writer and teacher spoke at The Somerville News contributors’ meeting held Feb. 1 at the Mr. Crepe shop.

‚ÄúSomething different about writing is, this isn‚Äôt true in newspaper writing, it‚Äôs true in creative writing, that you‚Äôre very autonomous. You are the boss. You are like the God of a very obscure little world,‚Äù said Steven B. Almond, author of ‚ÄúCandyfreak: a journey through the chocolate underbelly of America.‚Äù 

Almond said narcissistic, headstrong writing types usually don‚Äôt work well together, but that his recent collaboration with author Julianna Baggot on the epistolary novel ‚ÄúWhat Brings Me to You‚Äù ultimately had positive results.  ‚ÄúAfter a certain grace period, we were at each other‚Äôs throats. It got very nasty, but we both realized the conflict was making the book less gimmicky and more authentic.‚Äù

Steve Almond

Almond moved to the area in 1997 and became a founding member of the Grub Street writers program based in Ball Square, he said. He decided to teach because of his students’ promising potential and because he enjoyed an appreciative audience, not to make money, he said.

Students from the early years of the program are now publishing books, which is rewarding and exciting, he said. “Grub street was an effort to build a community around the best and the brightest writing in Boston. This is a town that is just filthy rich in writing.”

Until recently, Almond‚Äôs writing dealt with his experiences as a self-absorbed, pathetic, lothario, he said.  His marriage and recent transition to fatherhood, however, will not stop him from writing about sex, pop-culture and politics, he said.

‚ÄúEverything in my life is interesting.  It‚Äôs just a matter of what I‚Äôm up to at the moment.‚Äù

Almond said his upcoming book, entitled “(Not that you asked),” is set for release in the fall. “I’m currently in the middle of working on a long piece about my lifelong loathing of the Red Sox, and will undoubtedly provoke the standard death threats and implications.”

He said he knows he is writing about something important because it has to do with his own shame.  ‚ÄúIn writing about the Red Sox and my loathing for them I‚Äôm really writing about my own shameful intractable relationship with my sports teams,‚Äù Almond said. ‚ÄúI‚Äôm like a shame artist.‚Äù

For a long time, Almond was ashamed of his obsession with candy because he thought it was silly and childish, he said. However, the best writing often stems from these personal trials, he said. “When bad things happen, I have to step back and say, ‘that’s my material.’ Not that I want to live in a life that is tumultuous and filled with pain and shame and disappointment.”

These are the subjects readers truly hunger for, he said.  People tend to censor themselves and live with things they‚Äôre ashamed of and won‚Äôt tell anybody about, he said.  ‚ÄúThat‚Äôs what I‚Äôm interested in and I find it liberating to get it out there.‚Äù

Happiness on the other hand, doesn‚Äôt have to be explained, said Almond.  ‚ÄúFor me the source of conflict most of the time, if I really trace it back, it‚Äôs inside of me, not a conflict with somebody else, it‚Äôs a conflict within myself,‚Äù he said.

“To me there’s no reason to write about something you’re not obsessed with,” said Almond. “Literature is a place where obsessives get to run free. We marshal language in a way in which other people can partake in our obsession.”

As for the candy obsession, it doesn‚Äôt necessarily end with ‚ÄúCandyfreak,‚Äù he said. 

“It doesn’t mean that I’m not obsessed with candy, it just means I’ve gotten it out of my system,” said Almond.